Cautionary Tale

via GIPHY

Just a short, cautionary tale:  If you put a crane on top of a building, do not drive said crane in a crazy manner. Especially if the crane is on top of the Morton Center.
The crane will fly off the roof and demolish the building across the street.
I saw this with my own eyes.Truth.

Olympian!

Congratulations to Anna, who rolled into medal competition with a stunning move as time ran out in the Synchronized Solitary Pool routine.
Anna, holding on to the large, white cooler that is the focus of this competition, made her move during the waning seconds of this timed event. Wearing her signature green and yellow life vest, Anna pushed her competitor out of the way, and literally rolled aboard the unsteady cooler. Holding on to the cooler with one hand, she waved a colorful, plastic-tasseled flag, and her competitor knew Anna had moved on to the finals.
We cannot wait to see what this extraordinary competitor has in store for us in the finals of the Synchronized Solitary Pool routine!

Just Say No

Please, for the love of all that's reasonable, just say no to the proposed Airport Library. It's a terrible idea! The people working at the library are in a large, glass enclosure like ticket booths of old. Our computer monitors hang from the ceiling, and when the departures and arrivals are not scrolling, THAT'S when we are allowed to access a person's account and check out a book.
I was trying to update a card for a wonderful, patient older woman, and got fed up trying to access the library database. I suggest we walk over to a desk, that had a computer, out in the airport. As we were walking, I ran into a friend of Erika's, who told me she was packed and ready to leave for college. I was surprised by that, as she hadn't said anything to me. I whispered to him, "Did you meet the...ah...ghosts?" (Please refer to last dream--"Meet Ghost Family") Yes, he had, and thought they were really nice. He wandered off.
I hadn't forgotten the patient older woman. We continued our walk across the airport concourse, and somehow ended up on a very elegant tram--it was wooden, with red velvet seats--that took us toward the gate area. Surprisingly, I did not lose my shit, but I'm afraid that the poor woman never got to check out a book that day in Dreamland.
Airport Library? Just say "no".

[Who knew there's actually a Library in the Philadelphia Airport??! I'm sure they have all the "kinks" worked out....]

Family Meet Ghost Family

I've been sick the past few days, so have been sleeping more than normal. I think my brain must be getting bored, because last night, I had two vivid dreams--this is the first.

I dreamt that Erika, Peter and I moved into a house that was peculiar only for its' location--it was on sort of a land "island", where streets came together at weird angles. It was an "antique" house--built in the 19th century. It was warm and cozy, and seemed to fit a family comprised of a single mom and her adolescent daughter and young son.
We got all moved in, and the first night, the ghosts appeared. The mom and her three children (teenage son, adolescent daughter, young son, toddler daughter) were not menacing--they were curious. After the initial shock wore off ("Fuck! Ghosts!"), we got to know them. In Dreamland, ghosts talk, and the mom told us how they came to be. They were the original family for the house. As it was being built, a brick wall went up first (I guess for the fireplace? I'm not "Little House on the Prairie"-worthy). This brick wall fell on the four of them, killing them all instantly. Evidently, her husband, not wanting to waste the material, finished the house and lived in it for the rest of his life. I think the ghost mom was a little perturbed by that, but I don't think they haunted him or appeared to him in any way--her way of punishing him, I guess. I don't know if they had appeared to other occupants of the house, but they seemed quite comfortable with the living. They only appeared at night, and I found it comforting to have another adult in the house to talk to (and the kids felt the same way--they liked to hang out and play with their counterparts). Typical of teenagers, we never saw the ghost teenager much, but I think he was busy keeping a watchful eye on the house and the environs.
Which brings me to another bonus of the ghost family--we could sleep peacefully, safe in the knowledge that something better than an alarm system was in our house at night.
We didn't talk about the ghost family to others, and if people visited our house, the ghosts might or might not appear. As Erika got older, she began to bring friends to the house, and they were sometimes pleasantly surprised by the appearance of the family, who helped us with the chores and the running of the household. No big deal; just one big family.
When I woke up, I tried to place exactly where this house was in West Lafayette. Best I could figure, it was at the non-existent triangle at Robinson and Lincoln Streets--which would have been a part of the original New Chauncey settlement.....
[Cue spooky music]....

We're Moving Where?

I'm sure Chester, PA is a nice city. I'm not sure I want to live there. Last night in Dreamland, Karen arranged everything for our trip to Chester, PA, but didn't bother telling me until we were at the airport that she had a job interview in Chester. She had an interview with an "up and coming" company that did some kind of story storage.
To be fair, I did get my first ride in an electric car (but we should have remembered to unplug it first), and it is always an adventure with Karen!
But Chester, PA? I really like it here.